


the beat of my drum (meets the beat of your heart)

by deariemate



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, honest to god the most fun ive had writing a story, i wrote this at 2 am one night after 2 glasses of wine, music festival AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-19 01:19:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11302776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deariemate/pseuds/deariemate
Summary: Emma and Ruby go to a music festival and meet a handsome and mysterious stranger. [one shot]





	the beat of my drum (meets the beat of your heart)

"Come on, I think the next set starts on the East Lawn," Ruby calls, grabbing Emma's hand and pulling her through the crowd.

She'd never been to one of these things before, but apparently this was one of the largest music festivals on the East coast, and her best friend Ruby had bought tickets 8 months ago for the two of them as college graduation gifts.

As far as she could tell, Emma didn't think that there was that much to get excited about. Sleeping in tents in the middle of the summer left much to be desired (god, how she missed air conditioning) and the herds upon herds of sweaty hipsters everywhere were starting to catch her last nerve.

It certainly wasn't all bad, though. Everyone was dressed to the nines in the brightest possible colors (she'd never seen so many high waisted shorts in her entire life), running around and being with their friends, and not to mention the music…

She was able to look past all the bad things though (like guys giving her and Ruby double takes everywhere they walked - it probably didn't help that Ruby was wearing next to nothing in the name of 'freedom of expression'), because of the music. A lot of her favorite bands were playing that weekend, and she had an all access pass to all of the concerts.

This night in particular, one of her all time favorites, Young the Giant, was playing the headlining show. They had two openers, both of which Emma had never heard of. Figures. They'd have to sit through at least an hour of random music before the good stuff started.

Luckily, the sun was setting a bit, so the air started to cool off and everyone could breathe just a little bit easier. It was beautiful out there, near the mountains. Out in the distant sky, some stars were starting to peek out through the blue.

All around them, other people were finding their spots, waiting for the concert to start. Some people took the easy route and laid out blankets on the lawn, but Ruby refused.

"Emma, we have to get up there!" She whined.

Emma raised her brow, knowing she's going to give in eventually anyway. "Ruby, there's hundreds of people up there-it's completely chaotic."

"For fucks sake, Emma. Take a chance for once. We made it all the way out here for these concerts, you could at least try. You may just have the experience of a lifetime."

Emma rolled her eyes and sighed as her hands dropped to her sides. "Fine, let's go."

Ruby's eyes lit up, and they set off into the crowd.

After a few minutes, the lights dimmed down for the first opening band. The crowd cheered, ready to start. As Emma got settled in to her spot, she took the chance to look around in the crowd, just to be sure she had an escape route if need be.

Her eyes scanned the crowd, and suddenly-

Holy. Shit.

Her gaze had fallen onto a group of guys nearby, in the center of which stood one in particular: tall, dark hair, jean shirt with the sleeves rolled up over a dark v-neck tshirt and dark jeans, and completely gorgeous. She couldn't make herself look away. She nudged Ruby's arm in excitement.

"Ruby, look over to my right, but don't make it obvious."

"Why?" Ruby shouted.

"Just DO IT you idiot," she smiled.

Ruby turned to look, and when she finally spotted who Emma wanted her to, she could hear an audible gasp escape her friend's mouth.

Next thing Emma knew, the guy was turning around to say something to his friend, smiling (dear god that smile) and he looked up, only to catch her looking right at him.

She could feel the heat rushing up to her cheeks as she turned abruptly back to face the stage-practically dying of embarrassment.

"Oh my god," Emma says, trying not to contort her face to match her tone. "Ruby, DO NOT look over there again. He saw me."

When she looked away from the band for a split second, Ruby's head was already turned, and when she looked the same way, she saw him walking over.

Walking over to her.

He was nudging his way through the crowd, and as he got closer, she felt like she couldn't breathe.

Ruby turned around first to face him. He smiled and tried to speak up over the crowd.

"Enjoying the show?" he asked, and it became very clear to them both that he had an accent. A heavenly European accent.

"Yeah, they're great," Ruby said, nudging Emma to turn and face him and respond.

Emma tucks a piece of hair behind her ear and turns. "They're all right."

"Just alright?" he guy is looking right at her, smiling like an idiot, like he's completely enamored with every word she utters.

"Name's Killian," he says. "Who might you lovely ladies be?"

"Uh, my name's Ruby," she says, pausing for Emma.

"Emma," she nods, turning back to the stage, trying to act like her stomach is not doing flips at the mere thought of him standing next to her.

"Nice to meet you, Ruby and Emma," he says, putting particular emphasis on Emma's name.

He continues. "Listen, uh, my buddies and I-" he gestures over to his group of friends, who are huddled together, obviously watching this interaction take place- "we're going to hang out after the show tonight, maybe get some drinks, maybe walk around the lawns and see if we can meet any band members walking about. And I-we were just wondering," he pauses here to scratch behind his ear, which was quite possibly the most adorable thing Emma had ever seen, and then he continues,

"Care to join us?" And yet again, he's looking directly at Emma. (WHY did his eyes have to be that blue?)

Emma's eyebrow lifts at Ruby, who looks ecstatic.

"Yeah, absolutely, we'd love to!" Ruby says.

"Great," he says. "That settles it, then. Right after the show, we'll be over there by the media booth."

"Okay," Ruby smiles, clearly excited.

"See you both later, then, I hope," he says to Emma. After Ruby turns back around to watch the band, he leans over to Emma, his hand lightly touching her shoulder, whispering right in her ear (and most definitely not sending shivers up her spine),

"Hope you like the next band a bit better, Emma."

And with that, he walked away to rejoin his group of friends. A few minutes later, they were leaving the huge crowd, but not without one last glance and smile across the way from Killian.

The first band finally finished their set, and about 15 minutes later, the lights go back down for the second opening band.

The imminent meeting with Killian and his friends was toying with Emma's nerves, and she needed some air. It had been awhile since she done this whole-hey I like you let's hook up-thing, and she wasn't entirely sure if she was ready.

Just as she was about to tell Ruby she was going to get some air, Ruby grabbed her arm and squeezed it.

"EMMA. OH MY GOD."

"What?" Emma says, yanking her arm out of Ruby's grip.

Ruby's eyes were glued to the stage, and when Emma's followed their trail, her breath hitched in her throat.

Killian, along with a few guys from the crowd, were walking onto the stage, waving and smiling.

Emma couldn't help but smile. "What the hell?"

Killian stepped up to the mic (oh god-of course he's the lead) and smiled.

"Hey, everybody-thanks for coming out tonight! How's the weekend going for everybody so far?!" and he paused as the crowd cheered. He swung a guitar over his shoulder and continued.

"Well I gotta tell you," he says, scratching behind his ear again, his beautifully accented voice echoing throughout the park, "My weekend was actually pretty shitty until a few minutes ago, when I met the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life."

The crowd whooped and cheered, Emma's stomach dropped, and Ruby squealed with excitement.

"So anyway," Killian says, "we're called Land and Sea, and I'd like to dedicate this song to my new friend, Emma. Emma, this is for you, darling. I hope you like it."

"That bastard," Emma smiled, in utter disbelief that this was happening.

And as his voice carried over the lawn all the way to her, for her, she couldn't help but think Ruby was right. 

This was the experience of a lifetime. And the best part was, the night was still young.


End file.
